Wait, 17 hour? Wasn't this a 24 hour race? Umm, yeah, it was supposed to be.
FANS was a Centurion race and has a walking division, so I was excited about this race. I was on track for first place and 105 miles (and a course record) when the wheels came off on lap 30 (about 12:30 am). I just lost all energy (and will) and slept in my car for a while, then decided I couldn't go on (I was chilled and had no energy at all). So I went to get some food and went to the hotel to sleep.
I was disappointed, but at the same time this is the second longest I've ever gone in my ultra career, and up to the point where I crashed I held a good pace (13:40 average). I was leading the entire race and was two laps ahead of the second place walker.
I reached 50 miles in 10:52:22, and I reached 100k in 13:50:38. If I had been registered in the 12 hour I would have won and I would have set a course record. If I had been racing in a 50 miler or 100k I would have been very happy. Unfortunately it was a 24 hour race, so I'm a little bummed. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now but figure out what to do next. Not sure what that will be, but once I recover physically and mentally I put together a plan for something.
This is a great race if you are looking for a fixed time event. Here are a bunch of pictures of the race from Julie Berg's blog:
http://julieberg.blogspot.com/
My only suggestion to improve the race would be to have a greater variety of food, and to have more hot food available at night. Other than that, a very well run and well supported race with a lot of great "crowd support" from the crews and families of other racers, plus the timers and event volunteers.
I'll post more later, and I'd like to mention the great performances by other walkers. But I've got to get to work and then fly out later today for a business trip, so my lengthier report will have to wait.
